front wheel bearing/hub assembly.1999, S-10 p-up

Hi, I need to change my front wheel bearing/hub assembly on my 1999 S-10 4x4 truck. The question I have is GM VS. Timken. I am leaning towards buying the GM bearing/hub ass., but the deals on the timken bearings are tempting. My local auto parts store is pushing the timkens bearings . he said the timken bearing are all steel construction and have a lifetime warranty. All the timkens i saw have a 1 year warranty, and the price ranges from $75. to $175. for the same timken part #. I would appreciate any comments to help me make the right choice. Thanks Tom.

Timken is a top quality bearing; probably better than the chinese bearing that GM puts in there in the first place. The only reason the GM bearing is more expensive is because its sold through GM.

Absolutley. According to Wikipedia, Timken has been making bearings for 109 years, has 27 plants worldwide, employs 25,000 people and are sufficiently concerned about quality that they make their own steel (or used to anyways). They have been an OEM supplier for many years.

They know what they are doing. Most bearings I have used on vehicles (GM and others) and construction equipment all have been Timken or SKF.

I would rather have Timken aftermarket bearings than GM bearings with no name stamped on them.

OK, I'm sold. I did a little more searching on the web and only found good things about timken bearings. I am going to get the, hub assembly from my local parts store tomorrow and see if they live up to what they told me over the phone about having a life time warranty on the hub assembly. The only other problem I found out while searching around was the torque specs for the drive axle nut vary. 103 ft lbs to 180 ft lbs. I have the service manual published by north american operations/ general motors corp. for 1999 s/t truck. It states to torque it to 130 ft lbs, but I read in some forums that the dealers are torquing it at 180 ft lbs. I'm still searching for answers on that. Thanks for the replies. Tom

IMO do not experiment with torque ratings. Go with what the manual suggests.

It is really not advisable for any mechanic to deviate from the ratings as specified by GM engineers, unless GM changed the specs via a Technical Service Bulletin. Such 'TSB's are sometimes available on-line.

However, IMO torque to what the manual says and do not worry about what some mechanics allegedly do. IMO the GM engineers know more and stated torque specs for very good reasons.

I agree with you magicrat on the specs. I will do some more searching on that and look for any TSBs. I just picked up my timken hub assembly and the store (sisco auto parts) does offer a lifetime warranty on it. Autozone charges a couple dollars more for it and only offers a one year warranty. I asked the auto parts store if they had the torque specs for it, but of coarse they had specs for the other ones they sell but not the one I purchased LOL. Well Thanks Again I will talk to you later.Tom PS my torque wrench only goes up to 150 ft lbs so you know what that means I see a new torque wrench in my future.

My GM Service Manual says 103 ft. lbs.